Net Profit How To Succeed In Digital Business by David Soskin

Net Profit How To Succeed In Digital Business by David Soskin

Net Profit is about building profitable internet enterprises.  It takes the view that web businesses are businesses like any other.  The writing feels very different than writing coming out of Silicon Valley in California, or Silicon Alley in New York.  It does not evangelize technology.  David Soskin takes a different approach to business on the web which comes from his working in Britain in a company that he bought, Cheapflights,  and then grew into an international business.

This is not about the wonders of open source, or how to reach lots of people through social media.  It is about how to protect your intellectual property and stay focused on becoming a profitable business.  He is not writing about how to make a lot of money very fast.

The books takes a nuts and bolts approach to business focusing on customers, choosing the right products, hiring for appropriate skills, raising cash, marketing, and bringing a company into the international market. He follows the conservative ideal of using your own cash and then plowing money back into a company you have started. It is only the last chapter which is speculative which is on the future of the internet.  The book starts with a chapter on the history of the internet and how it works.

This is a book that takes every day business practices and shows how they apply in a web environment.  It is for business people who are a little bit circumspect of the internet, but want to understand how it works and how to do business on the internet.

Daily Thoughts 12/25/2010 (net profits, SEO, jack mcdevitt, echo, social media, library budget)

Houghton Mifflin and Company’s Holiday Books for MDCCCXCV, 1895, Chromoltihograph.  This is one of the few images that I have chosen to use more than once.

Daily Thoughts 12/25/2010

During the last week we've watched The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg several times.   It is an excellent christmas movie.  It is a break from watching Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. I really enjoyed the Polar Express.  It is also a childrens book which is very beautifully illustrated.  I am also fond of The Garden of Abdul Gasazi which is very beauftiful.  Chris Van Allsburg has a nicely illustrated website
http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/polarexpress.html


I have been reading more of Net Profits by David Soskin.  He is writing about how he opened his company in the United Kingdom and then expanded into Canada, the United States, and Europe. There is a lot to think about here.

I also read Jack McDevitt, Echo  which is a mix of archaeological science fiction, mystery, and disaster story.  It is a very complex story with lots of twists, turns, and skulduggery.

The week has been very relaxing.  I also watched something pretty mindless but entertaining, the series, Wolverine and the Xmen on dvd.  It is not Marvel's best stuff, but I enjoyed it.  The original Xmen series is much better.

The budget issue with the library has not ended.  There is going to be a revised budget announced on Monday, December 27, 2010, and a hearing on Tuesday December 28, 2010 about the budget.  If you are interested in the library please attend.  http://www.lohud.com/article/20101225/NEWS02/12250324/Mount-Vernon-sets-hearing-on-86-8M-spending-plan 

Web Bits

I have also been thinking of free SEO tools. It is a way to review free methods of search engine marketing.

There is Addme, which is a free tool which submits to 20 engines.

http://www.addme.com 

There is also Google Pagerank Checker

http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

Google Adwords has a free keyword analysis tool.

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal free keyword analysis

Statcounter is a fairly reliable hit counter that is free.

http://statcounter.com/why_is_it_free.html

There is also Google Webmaster Tools which allows you to have free analyics.

www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html  

This is an automatic link checker which allows you to determine if you have broken links on your site.

The other thing which I am thinking of is social media campaigns.

There are the big three; Linked In, Twitter, and Facebook.  Depending on what I am thinking about in the near future with something more oriented towards books, there would also be Book Blogs on Ning, and a blog associated with various book sites.

Daily Thoughts 12/24/2010 (Ebooks, Net Profits)

WPA Poster.

Daily Thoughts 12/24/2010

Coverage of an ebook unconference. I found this going through the Digital Book World Conference site   Digital Book World is on January 24-26, 2010. http://dbw2011.digitalbookworld.com/

Description of an ebook unconference.
http://wegrowmedia.com/lessons-from-an-unconference-book-camp-nyc/

Today, I am on vacation.  It has been a very relaxed day.  I read some more of Net Profits and relaxed a lot. Net Profits had some interesting material on selecting keywords, creating metatags, and search engine optimization.  It talked about how it was necessary to take full advantage of both adwords and other pay per click systems for business.

There is more than one conference which I would like to attend, The Tools of Change Conference and the Digital Book World are both in New York.  I can't go to everything which I would like because of expenses and time.

Right now, I am looking over my options.  I will know next week what has happened in terms of layoffs.  I have some indications that more people will be laid off. Quite frankly, it does not look very pleasant.

Daily Thoughts 12/23/2010 (Advocacy, Net Profits)

Per Eskilson 1820-1872, Reading Loud, 1856, Oil On Canvas

Daily Thoughts 12/23/2010


I tried to read more of Unmarketing by Scott Stratten this morning.  However, it became too fluffy.  The point where I felt that I had to put the book down is when Scott Stratten started writing about the difference in flavor between McDonald's coffee and Tim Hortons coffee.  It just did not fit well with my thought processes.  I have started reading Net Profit How To Succeed In Digital Business by David Soskin who was the CEO of Cheapflights which is a British company.

This morning, I spent time talking to a patron about the library and also talked to the Friends of the Library about how to send in the form letter to our city council representatives.  I have been following everything very closely.  I am hoping things will turn out differently than I expect they will.

 http://www.voteyesforourlibrary.org/Westchester_Advocacy/index.php?library=Mount+Vernon+Public+Library

I also checked the displays and did some spot checking for the shelves.

One of my colleagues recommended that I read True Grit by Charles Portis.  The film by the Coen brothers looks very good.

I started reading Net Profit on the way home from work.  It is different because the author is a British author.  He does not recommend you go open source and reminds you to protect your intellectual property.  He also does not hype social media.  He focuses more on usability and design than marketing.  An excellent, usuable website is the foundation of a successful internet business.

I am on vacation starting tomorrow which will be a nice break.